1St Drift Boat Trip On Lir - 6/24/12

[OKFlyFisher44]

Despite the heat, DonnyB and I loaded up the drift boat yesterday afternoon to do our first float on the Lower Illinois since they were only going to be generating 1 unit (1800-2000 cfs). We got on the water about 4:15 to float from the Dam to Gore Landing. Shoulda seen the looks we got in the parking lot as we were launching my Clacka, pure comedy. I must say, this river is freaking SWEET at 1 unit of generation. Great flows for floating and fishing. Plenty of fishable water everywhere depending on if you wanna fish from the boat or get out and wade. I had no expectations coming into this float and I was pleasantly surprised at how the river looked. It looked very similiar to the Norfork in Arkansas under similiar generation as far as the size of the river channel and how the river "looks". If it wasnt for all the nasty moss on the river bottom in the upper section, it would be rather clear. Once you get to the Gravel Pit area, it starts to really clear up from there all the way downstream to Gore Landing.

As far as the fishing goes, it was pretty slow which is what I expected. We were able to put a handful of trout in the boat as well as a baby striper and a largemouth at the end of the float. We did the whole 6-7 mile float in about 4 hours which is a little faster than I normally would fish a tailwater. We usually will float good sections numerous times as well as get out to wade fish the islands. We only got out to wade fish below Watts. We also were kinda playing around with throwing hopper/dropper against the banks for the 1st half of the float which I think kinda hurt our chances but its always fun to chuck the foam nasty bug. We switched to dual nymph rigs under a bobber and then started to put a few fish in the boat. I also think if we woulda tried throwing streamers on sinking lines, we coulda stuck a few fish as well.

All in all, it was a cool float and we learned a few things about the river so we will totally be floating the river again.

[fishfeeder]

thanks for the post, sounds like fun! Do you mind saying what nymphs were working?

[OKFlyFisher44]

Brown ones : )

Lol, we caught ours on copper johns dropped off a dirt snake. I tie my CJs a little different than ur generic CJ but i dont think it really woulda mattered. I thought the worms would be the meal ticket with the high water but I was wrong...dead wrong!

[fishfeeder]

thanks, I'll have to go with my store boughts, but I'll give it a try. Since the weather got hot, I've been trying woolly buggers and zebra midges, stuff that worked all spring, but can't seem to get more than maybe one an hour.

[OKFlyFisher44]

Summer time is kinda tough down there with the water temps getting a little out of control. Common issue with our tailwaters. Get on the water early and fish till the sun starts to get high. In the summer, I have good luck swinging/stripping soft hackles too. Don't forget about the ol' spaghetti and meatballs too, tailwater rainbows love worms and eggs year-round, just keep changing colors. Obviously, midge patterns are always good...when the water is low, try red or copper as midges turn colors as the water quality diminishes.

[fishfeeder]

thanks again, that will give me some things to try. I didn't know that about the midges. Black seemed to work well in the spring, but has really slowed down lately.

[Nick Williams]

Summer time is kinda tough down there with the water temps getting a little out of control. Common issue with our tailwaters. Get on the water early and fish till the sun starts to get high. In the summer, I have good luck swinging/stripping soft hackles too. Don't forget about the ol' spaghetti and meatballs too, tailwater rainbows love worms and eggs year-round, just keep changing colors. Obviously, midge patterns are always good...when the water is low, try red or copper as midges turn colors as the water quality diminishes.

I've never heard that about midges either. Are they really just black when the quality goes back up? I will have to try this. I did catch more trout on a green/olive zebra midge compared to the usual black last time I was there.

[On The Fly 6]

I fished the river between the 25th-27th of June with my uncle and we did pretty well on a variety of things. I say that, but it was actually a different fly on each day that we fished. We got on the water about mid morning and fished until they generated in the afternoon (nearly got stranded one day) The first day I did well on a size 18 Blue Morning dun midge. The next day we caught numerous fish on an olive micro jig. (I am, by no means, a fly fishing purist. If I can throw it with my fly rod, Ill fish it.) I also caught fish on a size 18 red midge. The last day we fished, I caught some of the biggest fish Ive ever caught at the LIR. The first big female I landed (and released) refused to surface! I thought I'd actually hooked a carp until I got her in the net. I didnt have my phone/camera with me and neither did my uncle, so no pictures. We fished the calm water area above the kiddie pool.